The first meeting of the Friends of St Giles Hill Park attracted nearly 60 people including several current and recent councillors on the night of the election being called.
The gathering at St Swithun’s School on May 22 attracted interest from people across the city and organisations such as the Hampshire Gardens Trust and nature and conservation bodies such as Butterfly Conservation and Bar End Wild Ways.
The Friends of St Giles Hill Park is a charitable incorporated organisation established just over a year ago with the aim of helping see the 11-acre park being supported as a jewel in the city of the Winchester as important to citizens as the iconic historic buildings for which Winchester is so well known.
The chairman, Harry Mycock, reported that on a practical level and in line with Winchester City Council’s five-year management plan, the Friends have been able to establish working parties which have so far racked up 300 hours of work, reducing invasive plants, opening up views and planting and nurturing new trees with biodiversity in mind. A hundred hours of litter picking has been undertaken, too. The support from councillors and grants from Winchester City Council and Hampshire County Council were acknowledged as crucial.
Mike Biden, secretary of The Friends, made presentations on the current state and potential of the Park and announced a new initiative to focus on engaging with young people as users of the Park. It was announced that Councillor Nathan Eve was to come on board to help spearhead this initiative and engage with young people and organisations such as Street Reach, the Scouts and schools.
The need for a long-term master plan for St Giles Hill Park, similar to those for other parts of the city, was debated and deemed an important next step as the Park moves towards its 150th anniversary in 2028. Breakout areas at the gathering also enabled discussions about the next steps in improving the Park including ideas for trails, seating and enhancing walks and views on these were developed further.
READ MORE HERE: New trees planted at city park
The matter of fund raising to support the work of the Friends was covered and several generous donations were made and pledged by attendees. The matter of achieving wider aspirations for the improvements in the Park were seen as possibilities for more specific and large scale fund-raising in the future by the Friends, this within a framework of a Park Plan with Winchester City Council who currently is focused on organising the regular maintenance and working on key areas of safety concern such as slope stabilisation and tree work to address matters such as ash dieback.
For more information and to sign up as a Friend see https://www.friendsofstgileshillpark.org
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